Chapter 3 - Metre in the Kalikapurana

The traditional belief current since the ancient times establishes the importance of metre for the study of Sanskrit literature. Various ancient works emphasised on the necessity of a fair knowledge on metrics. A huge quantity of the Indian literature has been recorded in verses. The Vedas, the earliest available literary work of the whole world which are preserved as apauruseya, the manuals of rituals in the Brahmanas and the philosophical thoughts of the Upanisads are mostly preserved in verses. For the proper recitation of all those works, a thorough knowledge of metrics is truely very necessary. Because the tradition was such that those works were to be learnt by the students by heart from their preceptors; and a metrical composition was much suitable for that

75 purpose. Hence it is said in Katyayana's Sarvanukramani that without the knowledge of chanda, the rituals donot 1 become fruitful and one who reads those with fault in meter becomes sinful. "yo ha va aviditvarseyacchandodaivat brahmanena mantrena yajayati va'dhyapayati va sthanum varcchatigartam va prapadayate prava miyate, papiyan sa bhavati" S.P. Bhattacharya in his work Jottings on Sanskrit metrics observed on the strictness followed in case of meter as follows: "our mannuals on rituals have emphasized this to such an extent that a wrongly used or propounded word in a mantra from the metrical view point is held to be detrimental to our interests, temporal and spiritual. A popular adage adheres to the rather peculiar view that in case of apprehension of the violation of 1. Katyayana's Sarvanukramani as referred to by S.P. Bhattacharyya on 'Jotting on Sanskrit metrics, 'p. 1.

76 metrical rules (Chandobhanga) a writer should rather shun (tyajet) the current vocabulary (gir) established by grammar and usages".2 It is maintained in the Brhaddevate³ that one who teaches or performs a sacrificial rite without knowing the rsi, chandah and the devata concerned with the mantra, which is tought or applied in the sacrificial rite becomes sinful. "In the Paniniyasikse the indispensibility of meter to the Vedas is alluded to by saying that "metre is like the two feet of the veda".4 In the field of classical sanskrit literature, the popularity of metre can be known from the fact that the first poetical composition Ramayana rather its sprout, cameout in the form of a verse from the lips of Valmiki in the famous couplet, 2. S.P. Bhattacharyya, Jottings on Sanskrit metrics, p.1.1. 3. aviditva rsim chandodaivatam yogameva ca yo'dhyapayejjapedvapi paplyanjayate tu sah. Brhaddevata, 8.1327. 4. chandah padau tu vedanam mukham vyakaranam smrtam. Paniniyasiksa, 31.7

77 "ma nisada pratistham tvamagama sasvatisamah yat krouncamithunadekamavadhih kamamohitam" 5 It is noteworthy that even the technical treaties like those on Smrti, Jyotisa, Ayurveda etc. were written in verse. The Puranas were popular writings and were meant for the general people. Hence to make it easy to be got by heart or to make the narration lucid, these were also composed in various meters recommended by Sanskrit prosody. Adam Hohenbuger, by observing the variety of metre employed in the Puranas says that " a closer examination of the different works leads us to the astonishing conclusion that, with regard to the number of metres employed, the Puranas donot lag behind the many famous classical poems". 6 He puts forward a comparative analysis of the number of metres used in different Puranas and in the 5. Ramayana, Balakanda, ch. 2.14. 6. Purana, Vol. 11, page 11.

78 works of Kalidasa, Sriharsa and Bharabi in his article 'metres of classical poetry in the Puranas'.' 7 The Kalikapurana is also a metrical composition without a single prose piece in it. There are eight thousand three hundred nintyfour verse in this work. All these verses are couched in sloka, Vasantatilaka, Upendravajra, Indravajra, salini, Vamsagthbila, Malini, Indravamse, Sragdhara, Vidhvankamala and Upajati of various types. It is found that the metres in the Kalikapurana are invariably Aksara Chandah. It is also significant that even a single verse of Ganachanda is conspicuously absent in the Kalikapurana But Arya a very common Ganachandah is often resorted to by the master poets in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and in the masterpieces like the Kumarasambhava sloka is the chief metre of Kalikapurana Most of the narrations are carried on in this metre. It has to be added here that the sloka metre grew out of Vedic Anustubh which 7. Ibid.

79 originates from Gayatri. But in case of others, it is difficult to trace or explain the exact nature of this development which remains quite obscure. Keith also has subscribed to this view Prof. A.B. "our authorities leave us wholly in the dark regarding the development of metre between the Vedic and the classical periods of Sanskrit, and it is hardly very profitable to speculating exactly why there grew in sanskrit poetry the use of metres with a determined length of quarter etc.❤9 stanzas or lines The ornate poetry begins in Valmiki's Ramayana with sloka metre. It was popular among the great poets like Kalidasa and Magha. The author of the Kalikapurana may make much more use of gloka in comparison with others, owing to the fact that its metrical form has the simplest structure. This is because there is no complication involved in it, as it is neither ganachandah nor matra chandah. Obviously, the use of Sloka 8. Gauhati University Journal of Arts, ed. A.K. Goswami, Vol. 37, 1995, p. 119. 9. A.B. Keith, History of Sanskrit Literature by winternitz p. 417.

80 involves less labour for the writer as such as the reader. Such case in versification in the sloka metre was necessary, as the work was meant for recital, like the Ramayana There are large number of prayers in the Kalikapurana which are ment for recitation or singing. The author of the Kalikapurana, like many authors of similar works chose the sloka metre as it seemed to be most suitable to the respiratory system of the reciter. Viewed simply as a manual on religion, only one kind of metre, i.e. Sloke would have sufficed in the Kalikapurana But the poet has resorted to many other metres while composing verses for the Kalikapurana The work begins with two verses couched in Vasantatilaka. Vasantatilaka is widely used by the celebrated poets. This is the metre of Caurapancasika, of the 5 th canto of Sisupalavadham, of 11 th and 13 th of Naisadhacarita, of the 17 th canto of Kumarasamvabha and of 3 rd canto of Rtusaimhara. Besides the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, Bhagavata Purana etc. also contain verses composed in this metre.

81 Upendravajra, Indravajra, Malini and salini are very frequently used in the Kalikapurana These are the most favourite metres among classical poets. The third canto of Naisedha is composed in Upendravajra. The 2 nd canto of Sisunalevadha, 3 rd canto of Naisedha-carita are composed in Indravejra. The 11 th cento of Sisupalevadha is in Malini and 18 th canto of the same work is in salini metre. Besides these, different number of verses composed in these metres are found in the works like the Ramayana the Mahabharata and the Kumarasambhava Two other metres though not frequently found but are present in the Kalikapurana are Vamsasthavila and Indravamsa. Only two verses in Sragdhara and one verse in sardulavikridita are composed. According to Anandoram Baronah Sragdhara and sardulevikridita are of best metres in the Sanskrit language and fitted for grand and terrific 10 descriptions. Sragdhara is the metre of Suryasataka of Mayura. Poets like Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti had used these 10. Anandoram Barooah, Prosody, p. 108.

82 83 metres in several places. The poet has tried a single verse in Vidhvankamale which is very rarely found in the works of other poets. It is observed that the metrical arrangement of the Kalikapurana has certain special characteristics features. Those are enumerated below. (1) Candomaniari defines padya as 'Padyani catuspadi' i.e., a verse is made up of four feet. But some verses of the Kalikapurana contains three feet only. For example uvaca sambhustan sarvan nandyedinatisunrtam // yadaham vah smaramyatra smaranaccalamanasan / samagamisyatha tada matparsvam bhostada tada //14-1 sphatikasmalaye tasmin sedvalarumarajite / vicitra puspaballibhih sarasibhisca samyute / prafullatarusa khagra gunjadbhramarabhusite // 16.2 Even in some places one single foot is considered as one verse. For example kuru tvamnaya ham raksa devasya va nrnam // 11.23

83 It may be apprehended that some foot of such verses have been lost during transmission. (II) Some irregularities have crept into some verses of the Kalikapurana The following illustration may be pointed out as an example of such irregularity. vibhinnvayvagnijalanghavarjitam na durasamstham ravicandrasamyutam / trimarga madhyasthmnu prakaskam tatvam param suddhamayan maheswar // 18.73 This is Vamsasthavila but the first syllable of the fourth foot is irregularly heavy. Such irregularities though it looks like a flaw in the metre, here it is considered as a characteristic of metrical structure of the Kalikapurana, because the number of such small. Over and above verses in the Kalikapurana is not Anandoram Barooah is observing such irregularities in the writings of celebrated poets has included one chapter with the title irregular verses in his work Prosody. In that chapter he remarks that "old writers donot always observe the rules of prosody" and he has quoted as many as twenty

84 one such verses with irregularity in meter from the works 11 of the great poets. In the Kalikapurana one has to come across many such verses yatsakaram suddharupam manojnam garutmastham nilameghaprekasam / samkham cakram padmagade dadhanam tasmai namo yogayuktaya tubhyam // 22.56 It is Malini with a flaw. namo namah karana karanaya divyamrtajnan vibhutidaya / samasta lokantar mohdaya prakasa rupaya paratparaya // 22.62 It is Upendravajra with a flaw. All those verses could not have been illustrated here for obvious reason. 11. Anandoram Barooah, Prosody, pp. 145-148.

85 (III) In terms of number of use in the Kalikapurana, next to Sloka comes Upajati of various types. If two feet of a verse share the nature of two metres, e.g., Indravajra and Upendravajra it is known as Upajati. The combination of two other metres in a similar way is also given the name of Upajati. anantarodirita laksamabhajau padou yadiyavaupajataystah / itham kilanyasvapi misritasu vadanti jatisvidameva nama // 12 The use of Upajatis of this description is sanctioned even by pingala in his chandasutra. Halayuddha while commenting upon the Pingal@sutra "Edyantavupajatayah" says - adyantaviti sutram nyayopalaksana param vyacaksate tena vamsathaendravamsapadayorapi samkaradupajatayo bhavanti, tatha salinivatormipadayornye samapi svalpabhedanam prayoganusarena upajEtayo drastavyah #13 12. Chandomanjuri, II, p. 34. 13. Pingala, Chandasutra, VI. 23.

86 It is to be noted here that fourteen types of Upajatis can be obtained by combining Indravajra and Upendravajra in various ways. Similarly the combination of Vamsasthavila and Indravamsa and that of salini and vatormi can give us fourteen types of Upajati each. Thus other types of Upajati can also be constructed by mixing other meters which differ slightly from each other. Vide, "tau yada vikalpena yathestam bhavatah,tadoupajatayah prastaravasaccaturdasa prakara jayante. 14 It comes to the notice that the authorities like Chandomanjari, Pingala Chandasutra, and Halayudha have recommended that an Upajati can be constructed by way of combination of two metres having equal number of syllables only i.e., (Indravajra and Upendravaja contain eleven syllables each, thus Vamsasthavila and Indravanca contain twelve syllables each). But the Kalikapurana incorporates same verses where more than two metres are used in one verse. The following verse can be pointed out for example 14. Halayudha on Pingala Chandasutra, VI. 23.

87 vasisthamatrim tvatha kasyaparica viswedimitram se sagoutamm munim mahatapastham jamadagnimukhyam tatha bharadvajamunim taponidhim / 30.94 In this verse the first and the third foot is in Upendravajra, the second foot is in Indravamsa and the fourth foot is in Vamsasthavila metre. The number of syllable in the four feet are 11, 12, 11 and 12 respectively. Again in another verse nidhaya prsthe se hi toyamadhye sthito mahanou pravare munindran / tatah sivam santvyitum janardano jagam yasmin yuyudhe sa pottribhih // 30.95 The first two feefare Upendravajra with eleven syllables and last two feet are Vamsasthavila with twelve syllables each. A cluster of ten such verses is found in 30 th ch. of the Kalikapurana

88 (IV) Adam Hohenberger observes that the Gathas constructed irregularly are abundently found in the Puranas. He also informs that the gathas found in the Puranas are not enlisted in the table and in the register supplied by Albrecht Weber in his two monographs on Indian 16 prosody. The Kalikapurana also contains lots of Gatha which donot abide by any rule laid down by Indian prosody. 15 In the Kalikapurana the long descriptions are usually presented in the sloka metre. Even the elevated description of rainy season, spring season, and the Himalaya is also found in gloka metre. The songs and prayers are usually presented in metres other than sloka. But a few prayers are found in §sloka metre also. Dialogues are carried on in sloke, while concluding a chapter, the author usually changes the metre in last one or two verses. 15. Puranas, Vol. XI, p. 16. 16. Ibid. p. 14.

RHYME 89 Rhyme is not a common feature of Sanskrit poetry. It is not an essential element also of Sanskrit poetry. But some talented poets have cultivated it in their master pieces. For example the verses of Gitagovindra of Joydeva are very much rhythmical in nature. verses are rarely found in the Kalikapurana One such verse can be cited here Rhythmical karatoya nadipuravam yavaddikkaravesinim / trimsdyojanavistirnam yojanaikastayatam // trikonam kr snavarnam ca probhutacalapuritam / nadisatasamayuktam kamarupam prakirttitam // 51,76-77. Here every foot ends in the same sound. In the prayers and in the dhyanamantras the rhyme is supplied by the refrain, at the end of each foot. Thus the reader can have a varied taste of poetry as varieties of metres have been employed by the poet in the Kalikapurana